This class has been one of the best classes I have taken and is the best English class in the world, period. My college application essay turned out to be better than I could have hoped. for thanks to what I learned when taking this course. The reading and writing assignments were very enjoyable because you get to pick the books that you read. It no longer feels like homework--rather, it feels like a fun project that I set up myself. Not only that, but the books that I read have not only been educational but enjoyable because I was able to pick what I thought would be most interesting for me. I would recommend this class to any senior making their way to college!

I really enjoyed taking Advanced Senior English with Mrs. Swisher. It was a great opportunity to both read books that were sitting on my bookshelf for years and branch out into genres I don't normally read. I also got the chance to practice different formatting styles and writing different types of essays, so I now feel prepared for writing assignments in college. Mrs. Swisher was always encouraging for each writing assignment but still provided good feedback on how to improve my writing. Advanced Senior English was a perfect class to end high school with!

I greatly enjoyed and learned a tremendous amount in Mrs. Swisher's Advanced Senior English class! From the weekly In-The-News forums to the various reading and writing assignments, I was able to expand my writing abilities in various ways, and one of my favorite things about this class is how it serves as the perfect stepping stone from high school work to college work. For example, while many high school English classes focus primarily on a single formatting style (in my case, that was MLA), this class also introduced APA and Chicago-style formatting, which are quite useful in college.

Furthermore, this class acknowledges that senior year is challenging for many students and it does NOT include any busy work at all, nor is it a course that takes multiple hours of work every day. Everything is consistently instructional and the reading and writing assignments are constructed in such a way that they both give you significant flexibility in terms of how you balance your time and are also purely not time-intensive by design. You even have the choice of picking your own books to read, so if you know you're entering a time-intensive period of school, such as near midterms, you are completely able to choose a shorter book to save time. Personally, I spent significantly less time on this course on average than I did in my AP Classes, but still learned a tremendous amount.

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I also want to highly recommend the college essay writing portion of the class. My essay went leagues of improvement from its initial drafts to what I eventually submitted, and I was very satisfied with the end result. I got into all the colleges I applied to (except those I didn't hear from due to withdrawing my application because I got accepted into my top choice), so I believe the results of Mrs. Swisher's instruction speak for themselves. If you are planning to attend college, I honestly think this class is ideal for you.

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Lastly, I would like to express both my gratitude and appreciation for Mrs. Swisher, the teacher of this class. Mrs. Swisher is incredible; she always responds quickly and thoughtfully, and her feedback is always extensive and detailed. There is also always a meaningful personal touch to her comments: she clearly cares about each of her students, and understands individual needs and exceptions. She will get to know you well, and you will get to know her well, and this will greatly enrich your experience in this class. Overall, I would highly recommend this course. In addition to learning a lot, I really did love this class. And if a math student considers an English course one of his favorites in high school, then you know it's good. :-)​

I loved Mrs. Marcy's Senior English class. The choice of books and freedom in the writing assignments really allowed me to showcase what I have learned throughout my high school English courses. The support in writing my college essay was amazing, Mrs. Marcy's tips and help in selecting a topic was great. I really enjoyed the In the News forums as well, they gave such an interesting look at the different students' perspectives of the world.

Marcy's Marine Biology class has been such a great class to be in; I highly recommend it!! First off, Marcy is a really engaged and enthusiastic teacher. She is very nice and will help you if you need anything along the way. She leads discussions in the live class every week

that gets us all to stretch and really understand the material. She also brings some great guest speakers along the way. There are weekly notes each week that are amazing for really absorbing what we just learned from both textbook reading and supplemental videos. The time spent on the weekly notes is very worth it. There are a few big projects throughout the year that are the best, and make the class really fun. A map project, a podcast project, and a PSA project all were really fun as it allowed me to be really creative and yet at the same time be learning about all these important and current topics! The topics in this class span from everything from how oceans are formed to all aspects of marine life from microbes to mammals, as well as all the different marine habitats. And everything in between! This is a thorough class, but also at the same time very doable. If you are looking for your next science class, want to learn about marine biology and oceanography, and want a kind,

supportive, engaged, and enthusiastic teacher, take this class! Even if you don't feel you're interested in this topic, I recommend you try it out anyway. I think you'll like it. ;)

This class is engaging and fun, with a workload that provides good learning opportunities without taking too much time. This class ditches traditional tests, essays, and tests in favor of interesting and creative projects. The teacher is kind, helpful, and extremely passionate about this subject. I had a great time with this class and highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed taking this class! The weekly meetings are really fun and interactive, and the shared notes helped me deeply understand the material as I communicated with my notes partner. Because this class isn't focused on memorizing everything just for a test, I found it refreshing; it was a nice change of pace to learn for the sake of learning, not just for a quiz!  In addition to the weekly notes, there are a couple of bigger projects and labs sprinkled in throughout the year, and I found them to be very interesting and thought-provoking. I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn more about marine biology!

This was definitely my favorite class this year, maybe even in my entire time in high school! I would definitely be willing to recommend this to potential students and families. Again, thank you so much for such a wonderful class!

Mrs. Marcy is an incredible teacher!! She managed to cover a lot of topics in such a short time. I love how much we engaged as a class, through discussions, breakouts, guided notes, etc. I really liked how Mrs. Marcy focused on making sure when we were citing things the sources were credible, that was super helpful! Best science class you'll ever be a part of!

I took Marine Biology and Oceanography this year and loved the class! Marcy is an amazing teacher and I can tell that she puts a lot of thought into the assignments and resources. One of my favorite parts of the class was that there were no tests or quizzes so I was really able to enjoy learning the material for the sake of learning it, rather than feeling like I needed to learn it simply for a test. I also enjoyed the weekly meetings where we would discuss the material and also do small group projects. Throughout the year there were several creative projects about a topic of the student's choosing. I loved the freedom this gave me to choose a related topic that I was interested in and really learn more about it. Overall I thought that the workload was very manageable and all the assignments were really helpful in giving me a deeper understanding of the material. Additionally, this year I had several AP classes that took up a lot of my time, and this class was a nice science elective where I learned a lot but didn't pile on too much extra work. I would definitely recommend this class to any student who is interested in learning more about 70% of the Earth's surface!

My daughter has been thrilled with Marcy Swisher’s marine biology class this year! It has been a well-organized class with a very reasonable amount of work (not too much, not too little) and interesting lessons, projects and guest speakers. She has really enjoyed the collaborative nature of the class, including time set aside for small group work. Thank you so much for offering this specialized class!

This is a great class. Though it is not very rigorous, lacking any sort of tests, it does have many opportunities for student discussion and participation. This enhances the learning process and, in my opinion, actually increases the amount learned, as you are actually learning instead of cramming for next week's test then moving on. It covers a wide variety of oceanic topics, from currents to sharks, and the guest speakers that came on were really interesting. 

Marcy created such a kind and encouraging learning environment. With her teaching philosophy, I felt that I retained information much more than I would have in a typical class. Each week was kept interesting and fun while still being academically rigorous (but not overwhelming). This class incorporated technical concepts with their real-world implications – all of which I’m still contemplating today! I would recommend this class to (everyone really but also) all seniors or juniors who have a lot on their plate. 

Ms. Swisher’s marine biology classes were always a bright spot in my week, she promoted collaboration & genuine learning. I never felt so involved in an online class, whether through the fun labs and projects (the map project was so much fun!) or the interactive classroom, and I don’t think I’ve ever retained information as well as I have in Ms. Swisher’s class! Her organization and class setup worked wonderfully for me. As a senior I wish I’d have found Ms. Swisher & Blue Tent sooner, they were by far the best teacher & class I’ve had in almost my entire high school experience!

My son and I have been thrilled with Marcy Swisher's Marine Biology class. The class is engaging, well-organized, and enjoyable. I appreciate how hard Ms. Swisher has worked to bring in guest speakers who are actively working in the field. All of the lab work has been well explained and easy to follow.  Additionally, Ms. Swisher has enabled lots of student collaboration during class time and through asynchronous partnered assignments. I think this course represents the best of homeschooling--rigor, fun, and the chance to dive into a unique topic. My son is sorry to see the class end.